Tubular Pouch with Lid Piece

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a tubular pouch having a tubular pouch body and a lid piece and, optionally, a base, especially a standing base or stand-up base, the lid piece being fixed on the tubular pouch by means of a cuff and either the cuff being formed integrally with the lid piece or the lid piece co-operating with the cuff, the cuff at least partially overlapping the lid piece and the cuff extending around the periphery of the lid piece and at least over an end portion of the tubular pouch at the lid-piece end thereof.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a U.S. National Phase filingof PCT International Application Number PCT/EP2006/002475, filed on Mar.17, 2006, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to German PatentApplication Number 10 2005 016 268.1, filed on Apr. 8, 2005. Thedisclosures of the above-described applications are hereby expresslyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a tubular pouch in accordance with the preambleof patent claim 1.

2. Description of the Related Art

Tubular pouches of the kind in question herein are generally known andare used for conserving, storing and transporting liquid, paste-form andsolid contents as well as for bringing such contents into commercialavailability; such tubular pouches and packagings produced therefromhave proved to be extremely advantageous inter alia on account of theirbeing lightweight and easily shapeable and printable. A furtheradvantage of such tubular pouches is their ease of disposal.

The opening behaviour of such tubular pouches or tubular pouchpackagings has proved to be problematic, however. Such packagings areusually opened by tearing open the packaging, it being usual to providea notch in a lateral sealing seam by means of which further tearing of afoil forming the tubular pouch, generally of two side wall foils, isinitiated.

A further possible way of opening such a tubular pouch packaging is topull apart two side faces forming the tubular pouch in the region of aseal, the seal breaking open.

Those two variants of opening have the serious disadvantages, however,that when the packaging is torn into or torn open, the foil forming thetubular pouch tears in an undirected and uncontrolled way, so that thecontents of the packaging are spilled, resulting in loss of the packagedgoods.

Furthermore, after such tearing-open, the interior of the tubular pouchis often poorly accessible, because torn or residual portions of thepackaging make it difficult to gain access to the interior of thetubular pouch, for example with the hand or a spoon. Intentionallypouring out the contents of the packaging is also often impeded byresidual portions of the packaging, so that the contents of thepackaging on the one hand also come into contact with outer parts of thepackaging, with the result that on the one hand the contents of thetubular pouch can be contaminated on being poured out and on the otherhand can be dispensed only in an uncontrolled way.

Finally, a further variant of opening comprises the use of a pair ofscissors by means of which an upper portion of the closed tubular pouchis cut off and removed, so that the interior volume of the tubular pouchis then freely accessible. Although that variant enables a tubular pouchportion that closes the tubular pouch to be cleanly separated, itcreates the problem firstly that it is necessary always to have a pairof scissors to hand and secondly, if the scissors used are not clean,that there is a risk that both the cut edges and the contents of thetubular pouch will be contaminated, with the result that the contentsmay become unusable.

The problem underlying the invention is to provide a tubular pouch ofthe kind mentioned at the beginning which can be opened hygienically,simply and without aids, so that the interior of the tubular pouch isaccessible without problems.

That problem is solved by a tubular pouch according to patent claim 1.

The problem is solved, in particular, by a tubular pouch having atubular pouch body and a lid piece and, optionally, a base, especially astanding base or stand-up base, the lid piece being fixed on the tubularpouch by means of a cuff.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the cuff is formedintegrally with the lid piece, the cuff extending around the peripheryof the lid piece and at least over an end portion of the tubular pouchbody at the lid-piece end thereof.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, the lidpiece co-operates with the cuff so that the cuff at least partiallyoverlaps, especially engages over, the lid piece, and the cuff extendsaround the periphery of the lid piece and at least over a portion of thetubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof. In that case, the cuffis produced as a separate component. The cuff extends both over theperiphery of the lid piece and over the periphery of the end portion ofthe tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof and thereby holdsthe lid piece fixed in its position on the tubular pouch body.

In the latter case, the construction of the cuff is like that of anangle profile, so that one limb of the cuff extends over the peripheraledge of the lid piece and the other limb extends over the peripheraledge of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof.

According to the invention, at least one portion of the cuff thatextends over the edge portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-pieceend thereof is sealed or adhesively bonded thereto.

The cuff according to the invention accordingly fulfils two functions:the first is to fix the lid piece on the tubular pouch, the lid pieceeither resting loosely on the tubular pouch body and being held in placeby means of the cuff which in turn is sealed to the tubular pouch body.

The second function of the cuff is to ensure that it is impossible toopen the lid piece without removing the cuff. Accordingly, the cuffconstitutes a safety measure by means of which improper opening of, forexample, a reclosable lid piece is effectively prevented (closureintegrity). That is expedient, for example, when the lid piece itself,with a cold-seal adhesive that is suitable for reclosure, is used forclosing the tubular pouch.

The cuff itself has at least one, preferably two co-operating gripregion(s) in the form of opening tabs. Accordingly, for opening the cuffthe grip region(s) is/are grasped and separated from the tubular pouchbody by pulling, so that the seal between the tubular pouch body and theportion of the cuff in contact therewith is broken.

Preferably, for attachment of the cuff there is used a sealing mediumwhich effectively prevents reclosure of the cuff, so that there is nodoubt as to whether a cuff has been opened. Optionally, the cuff canalso be constructed so that after being opened it has broken sites ortorn sites.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the lid piece is placed overthe associated peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body, so that thetubular pouch body is surrounded at least on the outside by the edge ofthe lid piece. In that case, the internal diameter of the edge of thelid piece is slightly larger than the external diameter of the tubularpouch body, so that the lid piece can simply be placed onto the tubularpouch body.

Alternatively, the lid can be trough-shaped or dish-shaped and have adiameter that enables the lid piece to be inserted into the tubularpouch body. In that embodiment, the lid piece preferably has its edgeturned over towards the outside so that in this variant the peripheraledge of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof issurrounded by the edge of the lid piece both on the inside and on theoutside. Such a lid piece is suitable in an extremely advantageous wayfor reclosure of the tubular pouch; the lid piece, by virtue of itssurrounding the tubular pouch body on the inside and the outside, restsso firmly against the tubular pouch body that there is no risk of itsunintentionally falling off the tubular pouch body. Instead, in thisembodiment the lid piece can easily be removed from the tubular pouchbody by hand; unless removed manually, however, the lid piece keeps thetubular pouch securely closed.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, a desiredtearing line is formed between the sealed or adhesively bonded seam ofthe cuff and the lid piece. That variant according to the invention isadvantageous especially when the cuff is formed integrally with the lidpiece, and the cuff can be at least partially separated from the lidpiece in order to open the tubular pouch.

In an advantageous embodiment, the cuff is formed by a foil strip theend portions of which are joined, especially sealed or adhesivelybonded, so that they overlap one another, an outer end portion servingas grip tab for opening the cuff (lap-seal variant).

The overlapping of the end portions can therefore be in the form of alap seal or a fin seal. In the latter case, the cuff can be opened bygripping the end portions of the foil strip and pulling them apart, sothat the fin seal breaks open and the cuff can be removed, so that thelid piece of the tubular pouch can be removed.

In an extremely advantageous development of the invention, the lid pieceis configured with an angled edge strip which in the longitudinaldirection of the tubular pouch can face either towards or away from thelatter. In the former case, the lid piece can preferably be placed overthe portion of the tubular pouch body located at the lid-piece endthereof, while in the latter case, as mentioned above, insertion of thelid piece, which is accordingly of dish-like construction, into thetubular pouch comes into consideration, the angled edge strip of the lidpiece preferably projecting above the rim of the peripheral edge of thetubular pouch body.

In the two last-mentioned cases, according to the invention the cuff issealed or adhesively bonded to the outside of the edge strip, so thatthe cuff remains on the lid piece when the lid piece is removed from thetubular pouch body. For that purpose, a strongly adhesive contactadhesive or a strong seal is preferably chosen in order to prevent thecuff from falling off the lid piece.

A further variant of a cuff according to the invention has at least onegrip tab extending in the longitudinal direction of the pouch,especially towards the base of the pouch, by means of which the cuff canbe opened, or torn open. As mentioned above, the grip tab is free ofadhesive and/or sealing medium.

Otherwise, the tubular pouch body itself and, where applicable, the lidpiece and/or the base of the tubular pouch is/are of relatively rigidconstruction. This is particularly advantageous when the tubular pouchcontains liquid or paste-form contents. When the contents are solid,they can themselves impart a certain stability to the tubular pouchbody.

A considerable advantage of a tubular pouch according to the inventionis that substantially the entire cross-sectional opening of the tubularpouch body can be opened, so that optimum access can be gained to theinterior volume of the tubular pouch, including, for example, with aspoon, a fork or some other removal aid.

In accordance with one embodiment, the tubular pouch body is producedfrom a square or rectangular foil blank, the overlapping edge regionsbeing joined to one another by means of fin-seal and/or lap-seal sealingto form a tubular body. Alternatively, the tubular pouch body isproduced as part of an extruded foil tube which is preferably ofseamless construction.

Furthermore, the tubular pouch body is preferably made from a laminate,especially an aluminium laminate, having at least one sealing layer andoptionally at least one barrier layer. The barrier layer preferablyconsists of SiO₂, ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH), an oriented polyolefin,preferably polypropylene (OPP), or a metal foil, for example analuminium foil.

Moreover, the lid piece and/or the base are made substantially of thesame materials as the tubular pouch body. As a result, the tubular pouchcan be produced very cost-effectively, because both the lid piece andthe base are made of the same foil or the same laminate as the tubularpouch body itself. For that purpose, it is possible to use either thefoil forming the future tubular pouch body, prior to formation of thetubular pouch body, or a length of extruded tube, which are in each casedetached for forming the lid piece and the base. For example, it ispossible for such a short length of tube simply to be sealed on one sideto form the base and then incorporated into the tubular pouch body, withthe latter optionally being stretched, and joined sealingly thereto,that is to say sealed or adhesively bonded thereto.

Both the lid piece and the base and/or the tubular pouch body have athickness in the range of from 50 μm to 1000 μm, preferably from 100 μmto 500 μm, and especially from 150 μm to 350 μm. Adhering to thosedimensions on the one hand ensures that the tubular pouch is lightweightand has sufficient durability and stability, including forcarbonic-acid-containing pouch contents. Furthermore, the lid piece, thebase and the tubular pouch body itself is sterilisable, so that foods,beverages and stimulants can also be introduced into the tubular pouchand packaged hygienically therein.

Further embodiments of the invention will be found in the subsidiaryclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described below on the basis of exemplary embodimentswhich are explained in greater detail with reference to the Figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according tothe invention in accordance with a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according tothe invention in accordance with a second embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according tothe invention in accordance with a third embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic part-sectional view of a tubular pouchaccording to the invention in accordance with a fifth embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view, from above, of a lid piecehaving a fin seal; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional view, from above, of a lid piecehaving a lap seal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the description which follows, parts that are the same or have thesame action have been given the same reference numerals.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the tubular pouch 10according to the invention has a tubular pouch body 12 which can beformed by means of lap-seal sealing. At its base end, the tubular pouchbody 12 can be provided with a deep-drawn stand-up base and can besealed tightly thereto peripherally around the edge. The tubular pouchbody 12 is approximately circular both in its base region and in itslid-piece region 20. Other cross-sectional shapes, such as oval,rectangular etc., are also possible, however. The lid piece 14 of anapproximately circular-cylindrical tubular pouch body 12 consists of anapproximately circular part, especially a foil part, which has aslightly greater diameter than the tubular pouch body 12. At the edge,the lid piece 14 is placed over the tubular pouch body 12. The lid piece14 of the closed tubular pouch 10 is fixed on the tubular pouch body 12by having sealed to the tubular pouch body 12 a cuff 18 which by meansof a limb extends over the lid piece 14 at the top and is stretchedperipherally both around the lid piece 14 and around the tubular pouchbody 12. For tearing open the cuff 18, the latter has on two sides a tab22, for example in the form of a fin seal 34, having two respective gripregions which extend away from the tubular pouch body 12 substantiallyat a right angle and which can each be grasped with two fingers of ahand. For opening, the two ends of the tab 22 sealed with the fin seal34 are pulled and in that way the cuff 18 is removed from the tubularpouch body 12.

Further embodiments of the invention are shown diagrammatically in FIGS.1 to 6.

For example, FIG. 1 shows a tubular pouch 10 according to the invention,consisting of a tubular pouch body 12, a base (not shown) and a lidpiece 14 which is fixed by means of a cuff 18 on the upper,lid-piece-end peripheral edge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12. The cuff18 is firmly joined by means of a very strong seal 36 to the outside ofan edge strip 32 of the lid piece 14, which edge strip is angled upwardsin FIG. 1. The seal 36 extends over the periphery of the lid-piece edge32.

By means of an adhesively bonded seam 26, the cuff 18 is joined to theoutside of the peripheral edge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12 at thelid-piece end thereof. That adhesive bond likewise extends over theperiphery of the tubular pouch body. For opening the cuff 18, a gripregion in the form of tab 22 is provided. The adhesively bonded seam 26is weaker than the seal 36 in terms of adhesive strength, which ensuresthat when the cuff 18 is being opened the cuff becomes detached onlyfrom the tubular pouch body 12.

In accordance with the embodiment described above, the lid piece 14 isof dish-like construction and extends into the tubular pouch body 12 tothe depth of about half its angled edge strip 32. The portion of theangled edge strip 32 projecting out of the tubular pouch body 12 is usedfor the join to the cuff 18.

FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic view of a further embodiment according tothe invention which is a modification of the embodiment according toFIG. 1. In accordance with this variant, the cuff 18 is formedintegrally with the lid piece 14. The lid piece 14 is accordingly joinedto the tubular pouch body 12 via the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26of the cuff 18. For opening the tubular pouch 10, it is accordinglynecessary first to open the cuff 18, it being possible to break thesealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 between the cuff 18 and the tubularpouch body 12 by pulling on the tab 22. For easier release of the lidpiece 14, it is also possible to provide a desired tearing line 28 alongwhich the cuff 18 can be separated from the lid piece 14. Such a desiredtearing line 28 is located between the adhesively bonded seam 26 and theupper edge of the lid piece or pouch.

FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic view of a third embodiment of a tubularpouch 10 according to the invention in which the lid piece 14 has adownwardly angled edge strip and is placed cap-like over the peripheraledge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12 at the lid-piece end thereof. Thecuff is in that case in the form of an annular angle profile, thehorizontal limb of the cuff 18 extending over the peripheral edge of thelid piece 14, while the vertical limb, or the limb extending parallel tothe longitudinal axis of the pouch, is joined to the tubular pouch body12 by means of the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 and accordinglyholds the lid piece 14 on the tubular pouch body 12. For opening such atubular pouch variant, again the tab 22 can be grasped and the sealed oradhesively bonded seam 26 broken by pulling, so that the cuff 18, whichis in the form of a separate component, can be removed. lid piece 14 isaccordingly free to be removed.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of a tubular pouch according to theinvention in which the cuff 18 is again formed integrally with the lidpiece 14 and can be separated therefrom along a desired tearing line 28.In accordance with the part-sectional view of the embodiment accordingto FIG. 4, the tab 22 is used for opening the cuff 18. Here too, thedesired tearing line 28 is located between the sealed or adhesivelybonded seam 26 and the upper edge of the pouch or lid piece.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of alid-piece-end peripheral edge 20 of a tubular pouch body 12 according tothe invention having an associated cuff 18. The cuffs 18 are in eachcase in the form of foil strips and have end portions 30 that overlapone another. In the case of FIG. 5, those end portions 30 are in theform of a fin seal 34 and in the case of FIG. 6 in the form of a lapseal. For opening the tab, according to FIG. 5 the grip regions 22 ofthe fin-seal seal are grasped and pulled apart from one another so thatthe seal is broken and the cuff 18 is accordingly opened.

In accordance with FIG. 6, a grip region 22 is provided on the outer endportion 30 of the foil strip, by means of which the cuff 18 can bebroken open to open the lap-seal seal.

The packagings described above are excellently suitable for storingsolid items, it being emphasised that a seal or some other sealing meanscan likewise be provided between the lid piece and the limb of the cuffthat engages over the lid piece. In that case the storage of paste-formand liquid tubular pouch contents is also possible if the cuff is notanyway firmly joined to the lid piece.

It should be pointed out here that all the above-described parts,considered alone and in any combination, especially the details shown inthe drawings, are claimed as being important to the invention.Modifications thereof will be familiar to the person skilled in the art.

List of reference numerals

10 tubular pouch

12 tubular pouch body

14 lid piece

18 cuff

20 end portion/peripheral edge at the lid-piece end

22 grip region/tab

24 edge of the lid piece

26 sealed/adhesively bonded seam of the cuff

28 desired tearing line

30 end portions of the foil strip

32 angled edge strip

34 fin seal

36 sealed/adhesively bonded seam between lid piece and cuff

1. A tubular pouch comprising a tubular pouch body and a lid piecewherein the lid piece is fixed on the tubular pouch body by means of acuff.
 2. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff isformed integrally with the lid piece, and extends over the periphery ofthe lid piece and over an end portion or peripheral edge of the tubularpouch body at the lid-piece end thereof.
 3. A tubular pouch according toclaim 1, wherein the cuff, is a separate component, and extends bothover the periphery of the lid piece and over the periphery of the endportion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof andthereby holds the lid piece on the tubular pouch body.
 4. A tubularpouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is sealed or adhesivelybonded to the lid-piece-end portion of the tubular pouch body to theoutside thereof or elsewhere.
 5. A tubular pouch according to claim 1,wherein said cuff is provided with one or more opening tabs defined bygrip region(s) selected from the group consisting of at least one gripregion, and two co-operating grip regions.
 6. A tubular pouch accordingto claim 1, wherein said lid piece is placed over the associatedperipheral edge of the tubular pouch body.
 7. A tubular pouch accordingto claim 4, wherein a desired tearing line is formed between the sealedor adhesively bonded seam of the cuff and the lid piece.
 8. A tubularpouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is formed by a foil stripthe end portions of which are joined, sealed or adhesively bonded sothat they overlap one another, the outer end portion serving as griptab.
 9. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the lid piece hasan angled edge strip, the cuff being fixed with high sealing strength onthe outside of the edge strip.
 10. A tubular pouch according to claim 1,wherein the cuff is formed by a foil strip the end portions of which arejoined to one another by a fin seal to form two grip tabs.
 11. A tubularpouch according to claim 1, wherein said cuff has at least one grip tabextending in the longitudinal direction of the pouch towards the basethereof or otherwise.
 12. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, whereinpart(s) selected from the group consisting of said tubular pouch body,the lid piece, a base, said tubular pouch body and said lid piece, saidtubular pouch body and a base, said lid piece and a base, and saidtubular pouch body, said lid piece and a base is/are of relatively rigidconstruction.
 13. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein thetubular pouch body is produced from a square or rectangular foil blank,the overlapping edge regions being joined to one another by means ofsealing selected from the group consisting of a fin-seal sealing, alap-sealing, and a fin-seal sealing and a lap-seal sealing to form atubular body.
 14. A tubular pouch according to claim 22, wherein saidleast one barrier layer, is selected from the group consisting of SiO₂,ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH), an oriented polyolefin, orientedpolypropylene (OPP), and a metal foil.
 15. A tubular pouch according toclaim 1, wherein said lid piece is made substantially of the samematerials as the tubular pouch body.
 16. A tubular pouch according toclaim 2, wherein part(s) selected from the group consisting of said lidpiece, said tubular pouch body, and said lid piece and said tubularpouch body have a thickness in the range selected from the groupconsisting of from 50 μm to 1000 μm, from 100 μm to 500 μm, and from 150μm to 350 μm.
 17. A tubular pouch according to claim 2, wherein said lidpieced, the base and the tubular pouch body are sterilisable.
 18. Atubular pouch according to claim 1, further including a standing,stand-up or other base.
 19. A tubular pouch according to claim 7,wherein the lid piece is placed over the associated peripheral edge ofthe tubular pouch body so that the peripheral edge of the tubular pouchbody is surrounded on the inside and the outside of the edge of the lidpiece.
 20. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said tubularpouch body is produced from a square or rectangular foil blank, and thetubular pouch body is part of an extruded foil tube.
 21. A tubular pouchaccording to claim 1, wherein said tubular pouch body is made fromaluminum or other laminate having at least one sealing layer.
 22. Atubular pouch according to claim 17, said laminate includes at least onebarrier layer.
 23. A tubular pouch according to claim 2, wherein part(s)selected from the group consisting of said base, and said base and saidlid piece is/are made substantially of the same materials as saidtubular pouch body.
 24. A tubular pouch according to claim 16, furtherincluding a standing, stand-up or other base, wherein said base has athickness in a range selected from the group consisting of from 50 μm to1000 μm, from 100 μm to 500 μm, and from 150 μm to 350 μm.